Memories
by The Guilty Bystander
Summary: My interpretation on how a Red and Miyuki romance would have ended.


Dedicated to **Secretsx17**for recommending a Miyuki and Red Romance.

Red's nonexistent brow was furrowed in a mixture of fury and concentration as the elevator he and several other Irken Elite stood on sped upwards. Their armor glistened in the light shining from the small porthole as they passed each floor rather rapidly. No one spoke, no one moved unnecessarily, all were confident and ready to lay their lives down on the line at a single order. Floor one hundred passed in a blur of light.

Masks descended over faces and a communications link check went around the room. Red offered a simple 'yeah' to his officer when his turn to respond came. For most commanders, this would be inappropriate and due for immediate discipline, but red was well respected among the ranks and very well connected above them. His commander glanced sympathetically at him for but a split second before turning back to the doors and priming his rifle.

One hundred and fifty, the light blinded red for a moment and seemed to last longer than the rest of the flashes. His concentration faltered for a moment, allowing a memory to break to the surface. A flashback from not so long ago when things seemed so simple and unshakeable. Back when he was sure she was okay.

It was so sudden and vivid that the Irken felt that he actually was standing atop a balcony that rested at the very top of the royal palace. He was looking out upon the beauty that was the capital city in its nightly light show of brilliant reds from windows and warming pinks from voot cruisers and other vehicles. Each beam of light reflected off of the spit shine metal buildings that the city mainly consisted of, creating a vortex of lights all battling for dominance that lit the inner city like a chaotic piece of art.

The detail of this memory was so extravagant that he lost his grip on what was reality for but a moment. Looking out over the buildings he took a deep breath of the cold, purified atmosphere and felt like he owned the world. Down bellow, drones of all sizes scurried about their duties, unaware that they were being spied upon from above. At this height, some of the buildings were much like ants as well.

Some of the buildings bellow reaching over a thousand stories high but did not even reach up to half the size of the palace. It was the pinnacle of Irken engineering and vortian design. A true masterpiece to behind. Reaching up into lower atmosphere at its highest, the building required modern filters in addition to the Irken PAK to keep the area breathable, but aside from that, there had been no setbacks in the design.

Red shivered in the coldness of the wind for a moment. The armor was not the winterized type and failed to protect him from the colder temperature found in such high altitudes. Despite this, he remained steadfast at his duty and refused to budge from his post.

A slight humming behind him. Most would not have even noticed this almost nonexistent sound but training remained dominate in his mind. After a few moments passed he turned around to identify the noise, even though he was sure it was her. Despite being so eager to look upon her, Red suppressed the memory with a tremendous amount of will. He reminded himself of her promise, she would be fine. She had to.

Floor two hundred, guns were checked, loaded, and primed. The two elite guards closest to the door readied their shields to defend the rest of the group from possible gunfire as they had little to no idea what they were facing here. Floor two hundred was reached. Everyone held their breath and waited. The doors slid open and everyone rushed out.

They were met with a blinding light that most simply shrugged off, but red was helpless as it consumed his vision and once again, broke his concentration. He was back with her. Miyuki smiled sweetly and nodded to him. He saluted but she stopped him with one hand and simply joined him looking out over the city. Neither said a word and the both simply stood there listening to the calm wind and looking at the city lightshow.

Red was nervous and jumpy, any one of the buildings or ships bellow could be hiding a sniper ready to assassinate the tallest on his watch. He couldn't let her die because of his negligence. Before he was able to ask her to move away from such a possibly dangerous standpoint, she addressed him with his name instead of his title, the way she always had.

"Red why are you always so rigid nowadays?" Miyuki asked innocently while leaning herself against the railing so that her back was to the city and her elbows rested on the handrails. Red noticed that his posture was rigid and his stance was borderline passive aggressive. He was standing more as a soldier than as a friend. Trying his best to relax, the Irken mimicked her stance on the adjacent rail. But before he was able to play innocent she continued.

"Ever since I became the tallest, you have been treating me as just that, a leader, and nothing more." She advanced slowly and unconsciously he stepped away. It was not natural for Irkens, of any height, age or status, to reach out to other Irkens in hope of obtaining an unprofessional relationship and even after all these years, her advancements left him with a sick feeling in his squeedly spooch. Miyuki quickly grew tired of their annoying game of cat and mouse.

"Come on Red. Just pretend for one night that I'm not the Tallest, remember training and the education facility? Let's go back to those times." Getting up from her relaxed position on the railway, the tall female straightened her back to her full height, reaching a good foot taller than red. Extending a two clawed hand she looked him in the eye carefully but at the same time lovingly. The light faded from red's eyes and he found himself amidst the soldiers he walked in with as if no time at all had passed.

Red was one of the first to see the destruction despite his delayed entrance. It looked as if something had taken a chunk out of the building. Several other floors were left exposed to the outside and there were plenty of people running wildly to get to the elevator and away from the source of their fear. Screaming was everywhere and there were even a few who were on the ground crying in hopelessness. As the soldiers spread outwards, the destruction became more and more apparent and devastating.

The other elevator doors opened up and more guards swarmed into the chaos and began their futile attempts at organizing the panicking swarm. People were trampled and Guards were pushed out of the way and in some cases, off the edge of the building. Explosions from ruptured power conduits shook the floor and fueled the fear of the building collapsing, causing some of the newer guards to panic as well.

As the soldiers began to attempt evacuating the citizens and call in for medical transport for those who couldn't make it down, Red and his group broke off to locate tallest Miyuki. She was their first priority as orders from the commander, but that was red's priority anyway. He would be here looking for her orders or no orders, chain of command be damned, he couldn't let her die. It would be the end of him.

Red pulled out a locator and zeroed in on her PAK signature before leading his team around a corner where hundreds of Irkens, civilians and scientists alike were fleeing in a mass panic. Prototype machines littered the floor, broken and forgotten in the confusion. This was about where she would be for the technology tour. The only thing left to figure out was where all this destruction was originating from. The group was quickly joined by the group of evacuation soldiers as they pressed forward. After fighting through the still rushing crowd and turning the corner that question was answered.

An enormous blob, the size of two average housing units, was tearing away at the building as one lone scientist laughed manically behind it. Bodies, blood and pieces of the building covered the floor but the scientist continued to laugh like it were all one funny joke. Two of Red's comrades ran over to the psychopath and attempted to drag him away from the destroying beast. The little Irken pushed them away and turned to the larger group of soldiers with his hands on his hips.

"I am ready to receive my award!" The tiny being beamed as it shouted in an over loud voice. Red stopped looking around; he knew that voice from somewhere. Turning back to the scientist drone, he looked closely into the ruby eyes of the over proud, over confident, and stupid… The elite's eyes drifted down to the drone's identification tag, his eyes widened.

"Zim…" He whispered, to himself in awe. The shock in red's eyes quickly turned to anger when he looked back at the large blob as it continued to tear apart the building despite the soldiers scuttling around it firing shots that might as well have been spit wads. This was no terrorist attack, once again, Zim had been able to destroy all progress on a planet with his 'helpfulness'.

"Yes? What do you want from Zi-" The small drone got no farther as red grabbed him by the front of his shirt and brought him up to his face. The rage in Red's eyes gave even the clueless Zim pause. Miyuki should have taken his advice and deactivated this disgrace. If he were tallest, all little defectives would be held accountable.

"Zim, you idiot, do you have any idea what you have done?" Red all but screamed in his face. The small scientist scratched his antenna and looked thoughtful for a moment before shagging as if he really had no idea. Red turned him so he could see the destruction, the death and his illegal genetic creation killing more elite guards and destroying more of the building, all while growing larger and larger.

"There is a reason genetic mutation is illiga-" Zim interrupted red with a hand waved wildly in his face. This flustered the elite guard enough to allow the small Irken to escape from his grasp. Once on the floor he dusted himself off and looked the furious solider in the face.

"Yeah Yeah whatever. There has to be someone around here competent to give me my award." Zim started foreword but stopped in mid step after about a few feet. He turned and looked back at red with anger reserved for 'underlings.'

"And you will mind your tone next time soldier. Know you are talking to the amazing Zim! It takes talent to be able to create something able to kill a tallest." The scientist had the gall to say before walking off and getting lost in the crowds of traumatized civilians. It had taken three of his men to stop red from charging after him and ripping his defective head from his shoulders. As this new information was absorbed he began to realize something. The little substandard drone claimed to have done what he feared most.

Red renewed his search, shoving the men holding him back like rag dolls he began to search through bodies for his beloved leader. His head began to pound, his Squeedly Spooch was turning making him feel sick and somewhat dizzy. Supporting himself on a nearby wall to catch his breath the Irken elite looked back at the destruction and saw something peculiar amongst the warzone.

His guards were unable to stop him as he rushed over to see the shining object against so much broken rubble and machinery. Shoving bits of building away, a PAK was suddenly revealed to him. Well… most of one anyway. It was covered in slime, bent broken and a chuck looked like it had bitten off but it was undoubtedly the PAK of a tallest.

Red looked to where it had been on the floor with tear filled eyes and saw the shredded remains of Tallest Miyuki's robe and wrist binders. The black and blue colors were scratched and worn despite being brand new not ten hours ago. Just like the PAK, they were smeared with a teal slime that undeniably came from the large blob creature that had already torn its way through their defenses and was starting to attack the city.

His men approached to where he was standing only to see their usually steadfast and iron willed squadron commander fall to his knees in weakness. They approached slowly before looking at what red was holding. Clutched in his hands, was their leader's ragged robe and PAK. There was no doubt that great Tallest Miyuki was dead.

Throats went dry and minds went blank as they watched the depressing scene. Normally it would be at this weakened moment their leader would come up with a plan or rally them together under some form of inspiration, but he himself was hopeless and desperate. After what felt like hours, Red reached up to his helmet and activated the communicator and punched in the codes for command.

"This is F.O.B. Vort, Unit Red what is the status of your team's mission." A reception drone responded flatly. Red started to speak several times but found that his mouth was too dry to work. Swallowing twice he finally began to speak.

"We have located Almighty Tallest Miyuki." He responded in a weak voice. The drone on the other end began to type away at it's computer, beginning to fill out the report file.

"Relay your position. We are dispatching a Medical Lander for immediate picku- " He cut the man off before he lost his nerve and words once again.

"She… She's Dead." Red's voice cracked as he spoke. The other line went silent and the entire world seemed to hold its breath. There was dead stillness on the other end and soon he began to fear that those dreaded words would have to be repeated, but these fears were false as the man was simply in shock just as he himself had been.

"Dispatching remains pick up teams immediately." The line went dead and red took a deep shuddering breath before releasing most of the cloth of her robes from his grasp. The tall Irken slowly stood and turned back to his team. They stood still, watching his every move but he didn't care, their mission was completed. It was over.

Reaching up, red gripped the edges of his helmet and took it off before tossing it to the ground. The headgear clattered noisily to the ground but somehow managed to sound muffled and far away to it's owner. The soldiers watched as their fearless leader stumbled away from the site while still clutching Tallest Miyuki's PAK in his hands.

Soon he found himself being guided to a medical ship for an after battle checkup. The PAK was removed from his cold fingers and his armor taken off without protest. Red felt numb and barely responded to anything happening around him. The doctor took a small flashlight and shone its beam into his patient's eyes to see if his optical implants were damaged in any way.

The light blinded Red and with his weakened and shell-shocked mind he soon he found himself back in a memory. He was considering Miyuki's offer, looking at her hand as if she were concealing a possible trap with it. Looking his old friend in the eyes red was enveloped in warmth and that queasy feeling in the pit of his being lessened to a pleasant pulse that simply reminded him that he was alive and with her. He extended his hand to her and she grabbed it without hesitation and pulled him over to the railing.

Now holding hands, Red and Miyuki stood closer than friends should in situations like this. Despite her being a good head taller than him and one or two generations older he didn't care. All that mattered at the moment was what was presently occurring. A light weight applied itself to his head, glancing up he saw that she was simply laying her head upon his and closing her eyes as if to enjoy the emotional undertones of the event instead of the misleading visuals.

"Promise me you'll never leave me." Red asked as he got more and more into the moment and out of his rigged anti –social shell built from long years of nonstop, lone wolf training. Without faltering or leaving any sort of pause to invite doubt and fracture the situation she responded.

"I promise you red. For as long as I live, I will be with you." Content and satisfied with the sincerity of the conviction in her voice, red let go of his previous hesitance and simply enjoyed being with her.

Her hands were cold but quickly warmed up in his as they swayed together in a smooth loving harmony with the wind, lights and each other. If one were to read deeply into the situation they would find that it was almost the Irken way of slow dancing. Eventually, like all things, the moment ended and they separated. Miyuki hugged Red before patting him on the shoulder and floating inside to the warmth of the palace.

Once tempted to go inside to where everything was warm, safe and easier to defend, Red found that he remained warm through the night after their little encounter. But back in reality, red felt cold, lost and alone as the medical ship sped off to take him to get medication for post traumatic stress disorder.

**It is currently 2:23 A.M. and I am surviving on an IV drip of concentrated Monster and Five hour energy, oh how it burns. Anyway, I wanted to take a short break from my other two stories and post this by request of a reviewer. Let me know what you guys think of it. List as many problems you can find; dialogue, spelling, grammar, undertones, emotions and so on. The more you tell me the more I fix.**

**If you guys don't like it its gone… All rules apply. Who wants me to just put my reviewing and story liking\disliking expectations on my profile review and get it all over with? I'm not getting many new reviewers or readers with opinions so does anyone not know what I want by now? This will remain in no uncertain wording or loopholes a one shot story. I'm so glad I found this again. Oh god that's a relief... sorry that it took so long.**


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